John Squires, President Trump’s nominee to lead the United States Patent and Trademark Office, told the Senate Judiciary Committee he supports changes to reduce patent-office pendency, improve patent quality, and end the practice of diverting USPTO user fees to other programs.

Squires said the PTO must tackle a backlog of unexamined patent applications and suggested that permanently ending fee diversion would allow the office to run its operations more like a fee-funded business. He said new tools — including harnessing artificial intelligence for examiners — could improve speed and quality.

Senators pressed Squires on several specific issues: reforming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the impact of Supreme Court eligibility decisions (Myriad, Alice) on emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain, and concerns that post-grant review proceedings have invalidated large numbers of issued patents. Squires said he supports reforms to flatten imbalances between post-grant proceedings and ex parte examination, improving front-end quality so patents are stronger when issued.

The committee also asked about litigation funding and Squires’s earlier work for a firm that later became part of Fortress Investment Group; Squires said he represented Fortress in earlier work but has not represented litigation funders since about 2016–2017 and has no financial ties to them now. He described efforts to create mechanisms for companies to monetize patents without immediate litigation, such as patent-backed financings that preserved company operations.

Why it matters: USPTO policy affects innovation, startup investment, and litigation risk for patent owners and challengers. Senators framed PTAB reform and patent-eligibility clarity as key to preserving U.S. competitiveness against foreign patent systems.

Committee context: Squires’s testimony covered patent-policy details that senators said were urgent for small inventors, startups and national competitiveness; senators also asked Squires to continue bipartisan engagement on reforms if confirmed.